I've been wanting to say something important and lasting about this election, occurring tomorrow. 36 hours from now, we'll know who will be the next President.
Ladies and gentlemen of Generations X and Why, this is our time. For the last 30 years the Baby Boomer generation has been running the government, and while some has been good, for the most part the politics and economics of greed fostered by the self-centeredness of the "Me" generation has gotten us where we are. As children, we sat by and could only witness as unions were busted, jobs outsourced, others like us went without healthcare because their single-parents could barely afford to put a roof over their heads. Poverty has increased over the last 30 years and the American Dream has been either stolen or obscured from the views of too many Americans who work just as hard as their rich, or white, or male, or otherwise entitled fellow citizens.
We all want to take care of ourselves. We all want to work hard and succeed -- those characteristics are not limited to people born into privilege. We all deserve to be justly rewarded for our hard work with living wages, affordable healthcare, and the knowledge that we're not sending our tax dollars to bail out banks and other huge industries that didn't have the foresight to listen to Warren Buffet.
We all deserve this. We all deserve change that's going to benefit everyone.
Our planet deserves the kind of leadership that will not only take Global Climate Change seriously, but will also work with leaders of other nations to combat terrorism with food, shelter, and education rather than bombs which only create more terrorists than they kill.
We deserve leaders who take US serious. After 8 years of watching in horror as the Bush Crime FamilyTM has done whatever it wanted, whenever, and without considering the consequences to you, me, Joe the Plumber, or Myles the Soldier or any of our families. We, Americans, have not mattered at all (so long as we shopped and kept our mouths shut about the war) during the past 8 years and it shows.
Barack Obama knows, and you should too, that the work doesn't end tomorrow after all the votes are counted -- the vote BEGINS tomorrow after the votes are counted. Just because we have Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress and a Democratic President does NOT mean that we get to sit back and be satisfied with our work. There's too much left to do. We have to hold their feet to the fire (after they win, of course, we do need to keep focussed on that first) and make sure they do the things they promised to.
But first, you gotta vote. If you've already voted, go to BarackObama.com and find a volunteer opportunity in your area. Make calls, drive people to the polls, go door-to-door reminding people to vote. There's so much at stake here, "we cannot afford to slow down or sit back; we cannot let up for one day or one minute or one second" Barack tells us. He's right.
What's most important is that he's not doing this for himself. He's doing it for all of us. We are all doing this for each other. We have to work together to make sure that we can become a leader in this world once again. That people will continue to have reason to look to the United States for Hope.
We're almost there. Just power forward... "We have to work like our future depends on it this week," Barack says. Because it does.
Yes we can, America. Yes we can.
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